Tag: Wienerwald

Last weekend I went for a hike in the vienna woods (Wienerwald) as I bought new hiking boots and wanted to test them on a moderate terrain before proving them in the real mountains. Almost everyone will advice you to try new shoes on a shorter and less demanding trail as you can never know how your feet will respond. Nobody wants to abort a hike because of blisters or aching feet.

Meindl Island MFSMy new boots – the Meindl Island MFS seem to be a good investment. Even after about 10 km I had a very good feeling in those shoes. Only at the shaft I felt a bit of a pressing during more ascending paths, but I did not experience it as a serious issue. Next weekend, I will go for a more challenging hike and afterwards I can give you a more detailed impression about the boots.

Coming back to my actual hike – I can tell you that if you are looking for a little escape from the city daily life in vienna, the Wienerwald is a good choice to start with. You can check the official city homepage, which is offering several hiking trails. All of them are quite nice and they can be found here – Hiking around Vienna.

I decided to hike a combination of the official trail 4 and 4a. My overall goal was to visit the Jubiliäumswarte, which is a well-known lookout post. I have started the hike from Neuwaldegg, the end station of the tram 43. At the beginning it took me through a little park, where you slowly get accustomed to the atmosphere in the woods. At the end of the park I decided to make a turn to the left and hike up a mountain bike down hill trail. I wanted to check out how my new shoes will do their job on a more challenging path. As soon as I left the park, the rest of the trail took place in the woods.

Mountain bike trail

Trail in the forest

Overall, it was a nice scenery and I really enjoyed the walk through the forest. It offers a lot of hiking trails and you often meet other hikers. So the risk to get lost is not very high and even inexperienced hikers can fully enjoy the natural area.

After about only 1 hour of walking, I reached the Jubiläumswarte, which is located 449 meters above the sea level. It was obviously not a challenging hike and easy to be reached for everyone. If you want to enjoy the amazing panorama view over vienna and the surrounding area, be prepared to climb 183 stairs 😉

JubiläumswarteAfter passing all the 183 stairs, you can finally enjoy the panorama. You will be able to see the whole city, the forest surrounding vienna, several other hills/mountains and sight seeings like the Stephansdom from the distance. Even the Kahlenberg (from which you also have a nice view over vienna) its lookout post can be seen, which can be passed when hiking the official trail 1 of vienna.

When standing still on the top of the Jubiläumswarte, you can feel how the tower is slightly wobbling. Maybe this is not a feeling for everyone, but I kind of liked it.

When I made my way back home, I decided to head into the direction of Ottakring. Even this is way is part of a offical trail – the 4a.

The descent – if I can call it like this – was very relaxing as it was not steep at all and therefore easy to go. Another big advantage of the official trails is that all routes can be reached via public transport.

So if you are located in vienna and want to give hiking a try, this is probably one of the best starting opportunities. I would give it a try 🙂